Worcestershire centurion Brett D’Oliveira says there is still room for improvement after the Rapids survived a nervy ending in their win over Leicestershire Foxes – a win that puts his side in contention for a home semi-final.
The opener notched his second List A century of the Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign against the F0xes, scoring 17 boundaries in the process as he helped set the platform for his team to make another score over 300 batting first.
Finishing on 328 all out, the Rapids fell away slightly towards the back end of their innings after one stage looking like achieving a score in excess of 350.
Ben Mike’s late cameo threatened to spoil the party as Worcestershire’s bowlers struggled to contain boundaries in a high-scoring game, an area which D’Oliveira highlighted as a work on moving into their last group game.
“It is obviously really pleasing to get that victory, but if we’re brutally honest, we were probably a little bit scruffy with our fielding and bowling in that second half.
“The ball does fly to the boundary at times here, so you’ve only got to be slightly off your line and length and you can get hurt. We can definitely improve in those areas.
“I was chuffed to get a hundred, as you are at any time, especially if it contributes to a win. But, again if we’re being honest, we could have done with one more partnership, to maybe catapult the total up towards 350 and put the game out of reach.
“Yes, we had them four down early but in white ball cricket, once you get past that new ball on a good pitch, if there are a couple of guys who get in with time on their hands you know there is going to be a partnership. Shan Masood and Ben Cox played very well and for us it was just a matter of being nice and calm and trusting your process.”
Despite securing victory in slightly more nervous fashion than the side would have liked, the four points taken from the win could prove crucial with one game to go in the hunt for a home semi-final.
Gloucestershire’s slip-up against Essex has opened the door for a last day dash to top the group and bypass a quarter-final match, if the Rapids can secure victory against strugglers Surrey and the current group leaders fail to bag all of the points on offer against Hampshire.
D’Oliveira says his side are aware of the permutations leading into Tuesday’s crunch clash, but the in-form batter has been around long enough to know better than looking too far ahead.
“With Gloucestershire not getting the result today, we’re still in with a chance of topping the group so we’ll be right up for the game against Surrey on Tuesday, trying to give ourselves the best chance.
“That’s cricket in general. I think if you ever take this game for granted, at some point it will come and bite you on the bum. So I think we have to stay nice and calm and keep trusting what we’re doing and trusting our process.”
